Structure Tools
Rilling can give the lift to the skis.
A structure tool is a manual tool that sets a pattern in the ski base by using a roller over the base of the ski. The pattern and the depth the roller creates influences the glide. There are rollers that give straight, broken, angled and cross patterns. Most rollers are rolling, but there are others that are locked.
Why use manual tools?
In principle, it is the grind that decides the structure in the base. But the grind is usually set a while before race day, which can make it difficult to fine tune the structure for the race conditions of the day. To fine tune the structure we use the manual rollers.
Manually adjusting the structure can make a huge difference when done correctly. Manual structure can give a better feel and better speed for normal winter conditions. On the warmest and wet days it can make a big difference. Here it is important to use an extra sharp structure to help drain enough water. On the other hand, it’s common that the skis are best on the coldest days without a manual structure.
On classic skis we often rill both the front and back. In the front for a better feel and in the back for better speed. In skating we are more careful setting a manual rill in front of the binding. It can make the skis feel heavy. If we set a manual rill in the front it’s usually with very light pressure while at the back we can put more pressure on the structure tool.
It can be useful to test different rill sets, but it’s important to not make it complicated.
Twinrill
We are importing and selling the TwinRill structure tool. We believe this is the best rilling product on the market. We will provide you with the knowledge on the best rollers to use for specific conditions. Below you can see for example the TwinRill Blue 1.
TwinRill is produced in Sweden by Magnus Gisselmann. Magnus works together with the Swedish national team, developing new ideas within manual rilling. TwinRill will of course go through intensive testing by us at Skiplukkern. We are spending a lot of time testing around the Oslo region, and we are working together with teams that are racing around in Norway and Europe. The amount of testing makes it easier to understand how the rollers impact the glide performance of the skis.
It’s in the name TwinRill – it is a double roller which means that there are two rollers creating the structure in the base. The structure tool is applied in one direction. If one of the roller is straight, then it has always to be the first roller. If we are using two screw rollers the coarsest one must be first.
TwinRill has four main categories of rollers: Red – roller for warm and wet days, Black – universal roller that can be used for many conditions, Blue – roller for dry conditions and cold good snow conditions, Gold - locked roller used on every condition as a base rill in combination with other rollers. There are several rollers within every color combination. There are in total 21 different rollers, but 3-4 rollers will cover most conditions.
We can help you put together a set up that works for you, and that will make it easy to use the rollers before your training days or races.
